Icing Roses and a Kentucky Derby Garland of Roses Cake

I have never been good at icing roses, mostly because I have the superhuman power of instantly melting icing.  A bad superpower for roses, a great superpower when you need to pipe stiff icing.

Luckily, my mom always makes a Garland of Roses cake on the day of the Kentucky Derby and agreed that I could loiter around snapping pictures of it.

So first you want to make three little mini-volcanoes one on top of each other on the rose nail.  You need a good base built up.  I guess technically if you had a big enough rose nail you could go as high as you like.

Next, you want to make petals that are oriented straight up.  About five of them should fit around the rose. 

 Next, you will make a row that points more outward for a more opened look.

You can get the rose off the nail with scissors, and then use the nail tip to push the rose off the scissors and onto the cake.

Roses work best with a stiff but workable icing that will set up quickly.  Typically meringue powder is a necessary component.

 Keep repeating this process over and over and over again until you fill up the horseshoe.

Then go back and add in leaves!

And then dig in to the most delicious Garland of Roses!

Happy crafting, and a very Happy Kentucky Derby Day!